Hydrangeas for Your Home

What Hydrangeas are right for your home? I often get asked this on social media so I thought I’d share everything I know about hydrangeas. I personally love all different types and I think it really says New England Coastal Style!

What are Hydrangeas?

Hydrangeas are the genus of shrubbery plants with clusters of showy flowers and range from white, to pink, to blue.

Hydrangeas are pretty hardy plants that are easy to care for. They are very versatile. They can grow in along sandy shores, in woodlands, and almost anywhere in between. They can be planted in zones 4-9. Here is Scituate we are in Zone 7A and hydrangeas LOVE our area!

Why I LOVE Hydrangeas!

I LOVE these flowers so much and I’m going to share all the varieties I love below, but I love how they look in full bloom in our yard. We have limelights around the pool and they are lovely and last all summer long and turn the prettiest pink in the fall.

We have blue hydrangeas along our front yard and they are stunning. The prettiest blue (pictured in the first photo) and they go from a pale green to a chambray blue (like the color of your favorite shirt) and turn the most intense indigo. I love them when they’re blooming but also when they turn a pale violet in the fall.

I love:

• being surrounded by blooming hydrangeas in our yard.
• I like clipping them and enjoying them in a simple vessels inside our home
• how easy they are to care for. Care tips below.
• Even as they die off they look pretty. I love using dried hydrangeas in wreaths, on mantels, at place settings. Also, hydrangeas are so pretty in baskets (see below):

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Our Hydrangeas

We have many varieties of hydrangeas. I will list them below with photos to help aid you when you go to the garden center.

Mophead Hydrangeas | Hydrangea macrophylla

Endless Summer Hydrangeas are the type we have and they were planted by the previous owner. These grow large and have many blooms each season. Our hydrangeas are that lovely blue, but the color comes from the soil. If your hydrangeas grow another color you may have to amend the soil. This is what to use for blue hydrangeas.

This type of hydrangea re-blooms. The more you cute it the more you get.

Height – 3-5′

Width – 3-5′

Shape – Rounded

Exposure – Morning Sun, Afternoon Shade

Hardiness Zone – 4-9

Panicle hydrangeas | Hydrangea paniculata

We have two different versions of this type of hydrangea and I LOVE both.

Around our pool area we have several Limelight hydrangeas. These start of green and turn white in July / August and then turn the prettiest dark pink. I love using them in arrangements in the summer and fall.

These have really grown since we planted them. Here’s a peek when we first planted them:

This is how they look now after 6 years:

This is them in the fall with a basket of dried lime lights in front of the plants:

In our front yard in our “secret garden” before the pool gate we have Strawberry Vanilla Hydrangeas. They flank either side of the walkway Luke built and look gorgeous. I love them clipped in arrangements too.

They start off white and then go a deep pink. This is when we first planted them:

This is how they look more established after a few years and in the fall. You can see them in this reel.

They look so pretty in this basket:

Height – 4-6′

Width – 4-5′

Shape – Cone Shaped

Exposure – Plant in part sun (4+ hours daily) in southern climates and part to full sun in northern climates

Hardiness Zone – 3-8

Mountain Hydrangeas | Hydrangea macrophylla Serrata

We planted this variety when we did the She Shed. This hydrangea has almost a lace cap quality and I love it. This is what it looked like when we first planted it (to the left):

It really has grown since then:

These are most hardy and built to withstand harsh winters.

Height – 3-5′

Width – 3-5′

Shape – Lace cap blooms in early to late summer

Exposure – grow in full sun, but prefers afternoon shade

Hardiness Zone – 4-9

These plants are native to the mountainous regions of Korea and Japan.

Climbing Hydrangeas | Hydrangea petiolaris

This plant really takes a long time to establish and we have one our yard but I really think I need to move it. We planted it six years ago and I think it’s getting too much sun in it’s current location.

Climbing hydrangeas are native to Asia.

Height – Can grow 30-80′ long

Width – 5-6′

Exposure – Plant in a full sun (cooler areas) to partly shaded location on well-drained, rich soil amended with compost.

Hardiness Zone – 5-7

Other Hydrangeas

There are other versions we don’t currently have planted in our garden.

They include the following:

Oakleaf Hydrangeas | Hydrangea quercifolia

I love the leaves on these hydrangeas. Learn more about this variety here.

Smooth Hydrangeas | Hydrangea arborescens

There are lots of variations of the smooth hydrangea. Learn more about this type here.

Pests with Hydrangeas

In my experience, our hydrangeas have been really easy to care for. They do like lots of water but other than that I don’t do much. We did have an issue with scale. Hydrangea scale is a type of sap sucking insect that shows on the underside of the leaves. It almost looks like a bird has pooped on the leaf. To remedy this I remove all the leaves and branches that are effected then I spray the entire plant with neem oil. The neem oil will suffocate the scale. Don’t do this in full sunshine as it will burn your plant. Neem oil is an organic pest killer that works to rid many plants of unwanted guests.

Decorating with Hydrangeas

I absolutely love having so many varieties of hydrangeas because they look gorgeous fresh clipped and put in a vase. Truly so classic and coastal.

They look lovely by themselves in a simple glass vase but I also love making arrangements in crocks and baskets too.

It’s so lovely to use dried hydrangeas in home decor too. See below for more ideas and tips.

Drying Hydrangeas

I really love how hydrangeas look dried as well as fresh. Everyone has different methods from hanging:

These are my tips for drying hydrangeas. I like clipping them and putting them in a big bowl in the basement for drying them.

Ideas with dried hydrangeas

On wreaths:

Dried Hydrangeas wreaths are pretty year round and it’s so easy to make your own. Make your own dried hydrangea wreath.

On mantels:

I find the fading colors so pleasing. See the mantel here. (This is an older post)

The Hydrangea Collection

As you can see I really LOVE hydrangeas. I love them so much, in fact, I’m launching a new Hydrangea Collection in our online shop today! I hope you love it as much as I do! See the full hydrangea collection.

The collection includes tea towels, notepads, list pads, note cards, and giclée prints – fun Easter and Mother’s Day gifts.

If You Enjoyed This Post

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like these related to gardening and home decor:

• Fresh From the Garden – Ideas & Recipes
• Growing Peonies
• 5 Beautiful Flowering Plants
• Sweet Autumn Clematis
• Spring Outdoor Decorating Ideas

Let’s Keep in Touch

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